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These scammers went to impressive lengths. They say that often the secret of a magic trick is to put in far more prep work than anyone thinks is reasonable. Con

These scammers went to impressive lengths. They say that often the secret of a magic trick is to put in far more prep work than anyone thinks is reasonable. Con games work the same way. In this case, the effort is worth since the target has something like $175 million in a wallet. The payoff is massive. Worth noting, though, that for all the fancy footwork the point of failure for the scam is him being willing to work with his main wallet rather than a one-off, and when he showed hesitation, they got too impatient. Good security practices were still the answer.

badRNG 5y ago
> when he showed hesitation, they got too impatient. This seems to be the common factor among scams, cons, and social engineering strategies. Rushing people will have them bypass protocol, training, and security practices. It's a universal "hack" for our brains; we do things we otherwise wouldn't when rushed. Security practices are like a rituals, standards of behavior that we just don't have time for right now. "The funds are only available for the next hour"; "You will be prosecuted if you don't do X"; "Per the CFO, we need to spend these funds before end of day."
- kenjackson 5y ago
  I do wonder if they were more patient and said to themselves “let’s build more trust over the next three months” if they would’ve been able to get him to use his main wallet? Great story though. I never realized these smart contracts could be so obtuse and malicious. That needs to be fixed.
  - Nextgrid 5y ago
    Yes - they could've just kept churning out more NFTs for him to "stake" and catch him off-guard when he used his main wallet by accident or maybe even give him legitimate returns (that they bankroll) to convince him to use his main wallet intentionally to get higher returns.
nfw2 5y ago
The lengths they went through were mind-boggling to me until he mentioned he has 9 figures sitting in a public wallet. Then it made a lot of sense. At first I thought he had maybe a few hundred thousand, partly because he was happy to accept the free help from a stranger. It's still pretty impressive how competently these scammers were able to discuss and deliver the VTOL work, the Space Falcon game, and entrepreneurial strategy.
- frontman1988 5y ago
  With 9 figures at stake I wouldn't be surprised if state sponsored hackers of desperate countries like North Korea are involved.

badRNG 5y ago

> when he showed hesitation, they got too impatient. This seems to be the common factor among scams, cons, and social engineering strategies. Rushing people will have them bypass protocol, training, and security practices. It's a universal "hack" for our brains; we do things we otherwise wouldn't when rushed. Security practices are like a rituals, standards of behavior that we just don't have time for right now. "The funds are only available for the next hour"; "You will be prosecuted if you don't do X"; "Per the CFO, we need to spend these funds before end of day."

kenjackson 5y ago
I do wonder if they were more patient and said to themselves “let’s build more trust over the next three months” if they would’ve been able to get him to use his main wallet? Great story though. I never realized these smart contracts could be so obtuse and malicious. That needs to be fixed.
- Nextgrid 5y ago
  Yes - they could've just kept churning out more NFTs for him to "stake" and catch him off-guard when he used his main wallet by accident or maybe even give him legitimate returns (that they bankroll) to convince him to use his main wallet intentionally to get higher returns.

nfw2 5y ago

The lengths they went through were mind-boggling to me until he mentioned he has 9 figures sitting in a public wallet. Then it made a lot of sense. At first I thought he had maybe a few hundred thousand, partly because he was happy to accept the free help from a stranger. It's still pretty impressive how competently these scammers were able to discuss and deliver the VTOL work, the Space Falcon game, and entrepreneurial strategy.

frontman1988 5y ago
With 9 figures at stake I wouldn't be surprised if state sponsored hackers of desperate countries like North Korea are involved.